The Warden
Nalaagura Ep'ha the Warden is a major demon born in the Demon Lands l to the Empress. She kept the rebels locked up in the dungeon through her vessel Treepelt, inhabited Stonegit after he went to Hel and finally ended up possessing Haddock. Appearance he Warden is a shape-shifter. In general, her incorporeal forms are tall, feminine, humanoid and graceful to a certain degree, but she changes form with whomever she possesses. Ordinary mortals cannot see her in an ethereal state, but she can alter the minds of those she touches and project herself into their vision, somewhat like a forced hallucination. With Treepelt, the Warden appeared as a ten-foot full-blooded half-breed cat, with thick mottled orange fur, huge ribbed ears and a dark cloak. Her form with Stonegit changed into a more human body, with darker, smoky-colored fur around her scruff and down her back, a forked tail, tusks curving around her jaw and shaggy hair covering her black eyes. When Stonegit began transferring her to Haddock in the final duel with the Valkyrie, she was in the process of shifting, but she was blown away in the explosion caused by the Valkyrie's death before she could fully manifest. When she returned to possess Haddock, her form was a lean olive-skinned woman with spiraling horns, short animal ears and long sable hair and fur, with black eyes and burning red pupils. Her tails merged back into one and turned long and whiplike and tufted. Unbeknownst to her, the Warden's forms had been growing more and more similar in appearance to the Stitcher-made body that was awaiting her in Bloedrest. Tall and lean, with porcelain plates and muscle-tissue joints, the Warden's physical body was built for warfare, complete with a curved sword and a very swift, agile motor system. Her face was is a blank white mask interrupted only with glowing eyes and surrounded by four horns and a cascade of celestial material that reflects the color of her essence. It was previously crimson and has been cooling off to a violet-blue as her temperament has been changing. She possessed Chief Akkey for a brief while, resulting in a more rabbit-like form, and she is currently residing within Greg's mind as a bright-eyed, wild-haired young woman with several tails intertwining with each other. Personality The Warden began as the epitome of the demon stereotype. Existing only to cause harm and death (so she thinks), she actively sought out lives to ruin and things to gain for herself. Having been born of pure wrath, it came natural to her to be destructive and chaotic. She had a very aloof, condescending attitude towards mortals, viewing them much as a human would view an annoying insect. Bizarrely charming at times, ] but better off crushed under her foot. But as much as she enjoyed ruining their lives, she couldn't stand possessing them. Physical pain is unbearable, emotional pain even more so, and she avoids both as much as possible. In fact, if her vessel is in enough pain, it could be enough to drive her into submission for a few hours, attempting to cope with the unfamiliar sensation. Older, more seasoned demons have learned to stand their ground in undergoing mortal pain, but the Warden is a juvenile and has little experience in such matters. With the recent happenings of season 3, though, it's becoming clear to the Warden that her purpose is not to cause pain. She was stunned and angry by the revelation that she was meant to care for the mortals rather than hurt them. However, she grudgingly came to realize that this was her inescapable destiny and started to protect the rebels instead of torturing them, which was quite a surprise for them. She currently is trying to untangle her benevolent feelings from her malicious ones. Abilities As a demon, the Warden can possess multiple people at a time as long as she has an "anchor" to which she is bonded the strongest. Her control grows thinner with the more people she takes over. The slower and more subtle the possession process is, the more deeply rooted she is in her vessel's mind. Along with this, she can detect any living being within a large radius, the size of which depends on the area, the magical interference, and the Warden's own strength at the moment. If her vessel can use magic, their powers are magnified, but if not, they have very limited access to a few rudimentary skills. History The Warden was born to a massively powerful demon, H'zola R'nalath the Empress. She was brought to being in the demon city of Bloedrest, in the far north, but she despised her life there and wished to flee. One day she did just that, hopping from vessel to vessel in an attempt to escape her former life. She was suddenly snagged from her body one day by a strange, immature force, and when she manifested in front of it, she was infuriated to see it was a young mage by the name of Darien Whiteland. Furious, she demanded he let her go, but he refused, telling her he needed to impregnate a golem with a kind of guardian spirit. For some reason unknown to her, she was unable to break the holds of the summons and was imprisoned inside of his golem. Family The Warden has seven other siblings: the Matriarch, the Praetor, the Archon, the Centurion, the Baroness, the Guardian, and the Shaper. She is the youngest of the eight and the most important, according to her mother. Her parents are the Empress and the Shepherd, both extraordinarily powerful beings who used to be a single soul. They split into the soul's intelligence and brute force, the mother and father being the result, respectively, and then the Empress "gave birth" by shaving off fragments of her soul and cultivating them into new demons. The Warden also has numerous cousins, three of which she knows best: Sydiotraa, Skaimaru and Shaxurohm. She is on reluctant speaking terms with Shax and despises her other two pugnacious relatives. The Warden has no tolerance for any of her close family, finding them boring and restrictive and annoying, the Guardian and the Empress in particular. She fears returning home to Bloedrest and refuses to even consider coming back with her sisters and brothers. Role in the Rebellion Season 1 The Warden's imprisonment in the dungeon was not a pleasant one. She seethed against her captors and longed for revenge but she was trapped and had no idea of where the young mage might be. She instead turned her attention to the prisoners and began toying with them. One in particular caught her attention: a passionate half-breed cat named Treepelt. The Warden was attracted by her strong feelings of protection towards her friends and her romantic feelings towards the scout, Vox. Craving these impassioned urges, the Warden left her golem and slowly began possessing Treepelt instead. She started with slow whisperings and eventually infiltrated the very depths of her mind, causing her to have violent mood swings and act very strangely around the rebels. Eventually they discovered the truth during the rebels' escape from the dungeon with the help of a massive seadragon named Furious. And furious the Warden was. She outright declared war on the escapees, demanding that they return to their cells, but she was practically powerless in Treepelt's body to stop them. It was at this time that they realized that Treepelt was not acting under her own direction. They fled to a safe distance where Emily the dragon half-breed used her ice breath to create a fortress for the rebels to live in. The Warden took a different approach and had Tree sneak into the fortress to steal from the dragon nursery, getting away with a clutch of Changewing eggs. The eggs hatched and she stormed their sanctuary, resulting in a massive battle between her brainwashed army and the Whispering Deaths of the rebellion. For a moment it seemed as though ]the rebels would win. Vox attempted to approach Treepelt and reason with her but the Warden flew into a rage and took possession of Emily. She tried to force Emily into killing Chief Akkey, but the King managed to break her free and everyone turned against the Warden once more, trying to reason with her and draw Treepelt out of her own mind. But the Warden threatened to destroy Treepelt's mind if they attempted to save her again. The rebels backed off cautiously and Treepelt returned to the ruined dungeon as the rebels fell back in turn. The Warden hid a few of her filched dragon infants inside of a strange labyrinth, in which scouts Kiri and Clover became hopelessly lost in. Another rebel discovered them inside, QuickySlippy, and together the three attempted to escape the labyrinth. But it was too late. The Warden had already possessed Clover's mind and led them into a trap. She returned to attack the rebels once more with her new prizes, but Kiri was able to break free of the possession midway through the battle. The Warden was about to kill her when the King approached and nearly killed her. clover also awoke from the possession and knocked Treepelt over, causing the Warden to tear her claws across her ribs, grievously wounding her. But she was surrounded, and in a surprise turn of events, the Warden surrendered to the rebels' capture. She was put into maximum-security confinement in an ice prison, chained by her hands to a massive ice spike, and left for the rebels to determine her fate. The King decided to confront her personally and speak to the Warden. The conversation did not go well. The Warden instead ignored his questions and taunted him, ] infuriating Haddock to the point of being ready to torture Treepelt for answers. Then Vox entered the room. He explained to the King that he would be able to break the spell over Tree if just given enough time and quiet, and the King agreed. Vox spoke lovingly to Treepelt, and the Warden lost more and more control, eventually giving way completely. The Changewings that had begun to attack while Vox spoke to Tree retreated completely, and the King relented, unchaining a bewildered Treepelt. Vox hugged her tightly, and then Treepelt suddenly stabbed her claws into his chest. The Warden had returned. Everyone tried frantically to save the scout's life but it was too late. He died in Akkey's arms. Haddock locked Tree back up in a fury and told her she was no longer to be trusted by anyone. Tree begged for him to listen but he would have none of it. They left the cell and held a funeral for Vox, burning his body in a Viking ship set aflame on a lake to the north. A day passed, and someone entered the cell. It was a strange, dark, hooded figure. He dangled the promise of escape in front of the traumatized Treepelt, and the Warden took over out of curiosity to try and discover the stranger's motives. He had to leave to avoid detection, but left Tree instructions on how to escape. However, Tree had already stolen the key from off of Akkey's belt and used it to escape the cell. Jokul and Hemlock tried to stop her, but she pushed past them and escaped into the fortress, running into the hooded stranger along the way. He grew angry at her for breaking from the plan but led her out of the fortress and into the Wilderwest, guiding her away from danger and to a lake--the same lake that Vox's ship was burned on. The stranger told Treepelt she was going to be able to see Vox again through the water. When he appeared, the Warden was alarmed by Treepelt's strong feelings, but rather than try and destroy them as she did before, she attempted to assuage them and tried reaching for him. Vox, however, leaped through the water before the Warden could force Tree to touch the surface and he was immediately sent to Hel. Treepelt was absolutely broken and the Warden scrambled to get her vessel back on her feet before she fell apart. They traveled back to the rebels' camp, but what they didn't know was that there were now two camps, one for the rebels and one for the runaways. Tree ended up staying for a day before continuing onward to the main camp. The Warden encountered Jack Frost and recognized him as the reincarnated form of Jokul Frosti and immediately attacked him. Emily saw the confrontation and tried to stop the Warden, explaining all the pain she had caused and how it was unjustified. For the first time, the Warden felt apprehensive at harming another rebel, and she turned tail and fled the rest of the way to the camp. She was much slower in her approach of the rebels, opting for an innocent conversation with one of the new rebels, a sorcerer named Blue. While Treepelt engaged him, the Warden began infiltrating his mind, successfully possessing him. However, Kiri and Jackson were alerted to the commotion and attempted to stop Treepelt as soon as they saw her. The Warden attempted to attack them as well but Kiri took Treepelt down and stabbed her in the hip, giving her momentary clarity as the Warden was driven away by the pain. The Warden returned to the surface of Tree's consciousness later as she talked to Haddock about rescuing Vox. She lied to the King about what the soul transfer required, simply saying that they needed his presence at the lake in order to get Vox's soul back, when in reality she was planning to trade the King's soul for Vox's. Haddock agreed and the Warden berated Treepelt on her lack of action, telling her that she was taking the reins now. The stranger appeared to Treepelt in the depths of her musing and asked if he would be safe once the Warden got what she wanted. The Warden replied that he would, and then expressed her confusion and uncertainty over the recent happenings, and Pitch gently explained to her that this was what it was like to be human. After Pitch visited, Treepelt heard a voice in her head again, and it whispered lies about Akkey wanting Treepelt gone so she could have Vox to herself. The Warden tried to shut off Tree's feelings but it was in vain. Haddock came in at that moment, preventing Tree from taking action on her anger, and he and the Warden conversed about how the procedure at the lake would be undertaken. When Akkey visited, Treepelt drew on the Warden's rage and strength to verbally assault Akkey, telling her how she felt betrayed and growing more and more unstable. They yelled furiously at Akkey until the Chief broke down, causing Treepelt to regain her consciousness, and the relieved Warden let them talk, and apologized to Akkey for everything she'd done. After the confrontation, the Warden then decided that she would give up her own soul for Vox, not Haddock's. Haddock returned later to begin the journey to the lake, and the Warden backed out of her promise, admitting that she couldn't endure Hel as a demon. She took control of Tree the entire time they traveled to the lake. Pitch expressed surprise at the tag-alongs, and the Warden explained that they'd been insistent on coming and that it shouldn't affect the soul exchange. The members of the rebellion reacted with shock and outrage, and the Warden responded likewise, threatening to hurt anyone who interfered with the exchange. Stonegit registered the threat and threw his ax at Tree, who was saved by Akkey but pushed into the water where both Treepelt and the Warden were sent to Purgatory. The Warden convinced Tree to travel to Hel in an attempt to rescue Vox, but they were stopped just in time by Pitch, who said he would be able to get one of their souls back. The Warden immediately told Tree to go, admitting that she finally understood the pain she'd caused and wanted to make amends for it. She watched Treepelt go, and then spoke to Pitch for a while after. Suddenly she felt a pain in her middle and recognized that she was being taken to Hel. She assumed that it was because her vessel was gone, and she said goodbye to Pitch. She had a momentary second in limbo to speak to the newly reunited Vox and Treepelt before vanishing. Season 2 After Treepelt emerged from the lake unpossessed, the rebels assumed all was well and quite forgot about her malignant presence. Season 3 The Warden had been assumed dead and destroyed after the events of the duel, and the camp preferred it to stay that way. They heard nothing from the Warden and thought she was gone for good. They were wrong. Both the Warden and Haddock had been suspended in limbo after the king's death and she had been attempting to heal his gaping wound with little success, for if he did not gain his health back, neither of them would be able to return. She was clumsy in her attempts to heal him and gained help from her cousin Shaxurohm. Haddock awoke in limbo and was shocked to see the two demons standing above him, not recognizing the Warden on-sight. His angry words spiked the Warden's temper and she spoke roughly to him, announcing that he was now her vessel due to the contract Stonegit had transferred to them. Haddock resisted, but the Warden took him back into the mortal world and a vicious fight broke out to gain dominance over Haddock's mind. The Warden crushed him with her words and her consciousness and succeeded in possessing him completely. Season 4 Relationships Treepelt Vox Stonegit Haddock Skye Greg Akkey = Category:Characters